Planning: Interdisciplinary Research Framework for Advancing Energy Efficiency in Housing

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University aims to develop a practical research framework for improving energy efficiency in housing. Residential buildings in North Florida vary widely in age, construction, insulation, mechanical systems, and patterns of household energy use. The project will bring together expertise in construction, architecture, electronics, mechanical systems, sustainable materials, and community planning to identify the most important research questions and feasible approaches for future study. Convenings with municipal officials, utility companies, housing organizations, faculty collaborators, and technical experts will help identify priorities, barriers, and future data needs. Furthermore, undergraduate students will gain experience through existing construction, architecture, instrumentation, and technical-design courses. Planning activities will establish an interdisciplinary methodology for studying residential energy performance across representative housing archetypes in Tallahassee, Florida. The research team will conduct a structured literature synthesis to define sampling criteria for older and newer homes, single-family and multifamily buildings, owner-occupied and rental housing. Also, the team seeks to develop longitudinal protocols that integrate building energy audits, utility records, building characteristics, and household-behavior information. The planning activities will assess established whole-building simulation and early-design analysis tools and determine whether a future study should use those tools independently, augment the tools with behavioral and materials data, or combine the tools with transparent machine-learning methods. Sustainable insulation alternatives, including hempcrete and hemp-mycelium composites, will be assessed within a framework that considers thermal performance, constructability, cost effectiveness, availability, procurement feasibility, and supply-chain readiness. Stakeholder workshops and technical review will refine research questions, data-sharing procedures, evaluation measures, and implementation milestones. The result research roadmap will provide a scientifically rigorous basis for integrating building systems, occupant behavior, and materials innovation while strengthening research capacity, engaging undergraduate participation, and collaboration between Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and external partners. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.